Journal of nuclear medicine : official publication, Society of Nuclear Medicine
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Comparative Study
Tumor blood flow measured by PET dynamic imaging of first-pass 18F-FDG uptake: a comparison with 15O-labeled water-measured blood flow.
PET molecular imaging of 15O-labeled water is the gold standard for measuring blood flow in humans. However, this requires an on-site cyclotron to produce the short-lived 15O tracer, which is cost-prohibitive for most clinical PET centers. The purpose of this study was to determine if the early uptake of 18F-FDG could be used to measure regional blood flow in tumors in the absence of 15O-water. ⋯ These results suggest that the first-pass uptake of 18F-FDG may provide an estimate of perfusion in a tumor within the limitations of incomplete extraction of 18F-FDG compared with 15O-water.